Climate expert and campaigner Mark Ballabon says that today's teenagers feel under immense pressure, and have a lot of anxiety around the state of our planet. His book, Home, is described as a coming of age story for the Greta Thunberg generation. He talks to me about how teens are feeling, why some of them shut down conversations about the environment, and what we - as parents - can do to help them work out how they feel about climate change and activism.
2:30 - Mark describes his own teenage years as "a bit of a car crash". He was sent to a very academic school and found it very stressful. Mark talks about academic pressure and how it made him very introspective and self-conscious. He says it was this that eventually made him stop caring what other people thought, and start questioning the bigger issues of life.
7:15 - Mark talks about how we all compare ourselves to others, especially in the world of social media. He says "every single relationship that you will ever form in your life depends upon your relationship with yourself."
10:00 - Why empathy is so important for authenticity, and how important it is to understand each other. It's why Mark used young editors from all over the world to help him write his book.
14:00 - Why we must never - as parents - use the same slang that our kids use.
16:30 - How to listen well so we can empathise with our teenagers, and how to show up with our own authentic feelings and model emotional maturity.
25:45 - "We don't understand people because we're always assuming that we do." A brilliant quote about what stops us communicating effectively and understanding our kids.
28:20 - How should we cope with our teenagers' fears over climate change.
34:00 - Are some forms of climate activism detrimental to the cause?
40:00 - What more can we do individually to save the planet?
Find out more about Mark Ballabon
More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:
Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.
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Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.
Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.
